The invention relates to a process for producing an airbag packet for an airbag module.
In a process of this type which is known from DE 101 14 208 A1 (incorporated by reference herein), the airbag, after it has been folded, is packed in an envelope and then a subatmospheric pressure is generated in the interior of the envelope. After that, the envelope is closed in a gastight manner. This minimizes the packed size of the airbag packet and at the same time protects the airbag from being adversely affected by moisture and dust. One problem in this context, however, is that there is a risk of the airbag packet expanding or being released during or after removal of the airbag, which has been folded into an airbag packet, from the folding machine in order for the airbag packet to be packed in an envelope, and this makes further handling more difficult.
The present invention therefore also deals in particular with features which occur when a folded airbag packet is accommodated in a flexible envelope (film) which encloses the airbag packet, which has been reduced to the minimum packet dimensions by means of subatmospheric pressure, in a gastight manner in order to maintain subatmospheric pressure, in which context in particular the necessity of generating and maintaining subatmospheric pressure in the airbag packet enclosed in a gastight manner by the envelope is to be taken into consideration.
The invention is therefore based on the problem of further improving a process for producing an airbag packet, which is enclosed in a gastight manner by an envelope, for an airbag module of the type described in the introduction.